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The online gender differences in the perceived well-being of internet users are commonly associated with offline stereotypical views and their social role expectations. However, existing studies have rarely examined the chronic differences between gender groups in terms of the way they use the internet. Drawing upon the social role theory, the current study attempted to explain the differences in their perceived well-being through agentic and communal internet use. Through a national online survey (n = 1,013), the current study found that agentic (but not communal) internet use mediates the relationship between gender differences and perceived well-being. The results help build a baseline model for future studies investigating the gender differences in online perceived well-being. Male and female internet users' respective engagement in agentic vs. communal internet use may stimulate their perceived well-being to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agentic behaviours are often characterised as actions that revolve around being assertive and achievement-oriented, whereas communal behaviours are centered on cooperation, empathy, and promoting social harmony. While extensive studies have demonstrated how these behaviours can be reproduced in online environments from offline, there is a lack of a suitable scale to measure them. The current study focuses on developing and validating an online agentic and communal behavioural survey scale. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, two correlated factors emerged and corresponded with the definitions of the agentic and communal dimensions. Through linear regression modelling, it was found that although each dimension was negatively associated with Internet users’ emotional well-being, the positive impact of online communal behaviour on emotional well-being is more pronounced at higher levels of online agentic behaviour. This reflects a theoretical perspective that both dimensions are complementary and should be ‘balanced’ to achieve optimal well-being. In a three-way interaction, it was found that gender moderates the above positive interaction effect in both gender groups. Specifically, gender differences play a part in determining the impact of high vs. low online AC behaviours on emotional well-being. This finding aligns with the theoretical framework explaining gender roles in societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While cancel culture has become a social media buzzword, scholarly understanding of this phenomenon is still at its nascent stage. To contribute to a more nuanced understanding of cancel culture, this study uses a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach by starting with in-depth interviews with social media users (n = 20) followed by a national online survey (n = 786) in Singapore. Through the interviews, we found that our participants understand cancel culture as more than just a mob engaged in public shaming on social media; it also involves perceptions of power imbalance and social justice. Building on these perspectives from our interviews, we tested the framework of theory of planned behavior in predicting intention to engage in cancel culture and expanded it by examining the effects of people's belief in a just world using an online national survey in Singapore. The analysis showed that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were positively related to intention to engage in cancel culture, while general belief in a just world was a negative predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestream content has been gaining popularity in recent years. Although it has been known that livestream viewing can mitigate the adverse effects of loneliness on individuals' well-being, the specific cognitive-affective processes involved are not given due attention. Situated in the Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness, the current study draws upon a national survey data (n = 911) to demonstrate that one's hypervigilance and their negative emotional state serially mediate the relationship between their feelings of loneliness and their perceived well-being. The frequency of livestream views was also found to be moderating the serial mediation paths and the direct effect between feelings of loneliness on perceived well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News-finds-me (NFM) perception is a belief that, in the era of social media, individuals can remain adequately well-informed about current events even if they do not actively seek news. While it has been examined in the context of general and political news, NFM perception has not been explored in the context of other genres of news. Through an online survey involving 1,001 Singaporeans, with the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model, this study examines how NFM perception is related to information seeking and COVID-19 knowledge. An issue-specific NFM perception was also proposed and tested in order to determine whether NFM perception and its associated effects differ when operationalized as general news exposure or issue-specific news relating to COVID-19. The negative relationship between general NFM perception and knowledge and the mediating role of information seeking on social media in this relationship are detected. It is also found that when the NFM perception is issue-specific (i.e. COVID-NFM perception), information insufficiency and intentions of information seeking on social media fully mediated the relationship between NFM perception and knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News media can influence citizens' health beliefs about COVID-19 and eventually their vaccination intention. However, existing literature has rarely investigated how such effect is contingent upon a country-level factor: press freedom. Situated in the Health Belief Model, this study draws upon a multi-national survey (N = 3,599), involving 10 major cities in Asia to address the research gap. Results showed that news exposure has a positive effect on personal health beliefs on COVID-19, affecting their vaccination intention. More interestingly, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs about COVID-19 was negatively moderated by level of press freedom – that is, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs is stronger in cities that belong to countries with low levels of press freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive body of work has explored the causal links between social media use, envy, and depression. However, the findings regarding the directional influence among these variables have been equivocal. This current study draws upon a three-wave longitudinal panel (N = 355) and focuses on the link between Facebook use and depression. Results from the cross-lagged panel analyses showed that increased Facebook use (t1) leads to increased depression (t2) which further leads to greater Facebook use (t3). This relationship is further enhanced when the role of envy is accounted for. Specifically, more Facebook use (t1) leads to greater users' envy (t2) which leads to more depression (t3). Implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cybersecurity breaches are on the rise. Extant literature in the development of strategies to enhance IT users' online protective behaviours has neglected users' cognitive processing of cybersecurity risk information. This study demonstrates a cause–effect elaboration procedure based on the concept of construal fit to influence online users' cybersecurity risk perceptions. Using online experiments (N  = 534), the construal fit between elaboration of causes vs effects of cybersecurity risks and perceived temporal distance (distant vs near) was manipulated. The results revealed that a construal fit between the elaboration of 'effects' (vs 'causes') and temporally 'near' (vs 'distant') cybersecurity risks enhanced users' risk perceptions, which in turn predicted protective behavioural intentions. Ensuring construal fit is a novel, cognition-based approach to safeguard IT users against online threats. Our findings enrich existing staged theories used to investigate cybersecurity risk perceptions and suggest to practitioners that heightened cyber risk perception can effectively be induced by simultaneously enhancing the concreteness of IT users' construal of cybersecurity incidents and emphasizing on its negative consequences (vs causes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]